Union Labour and Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Monday, June 8, 2026, highlighted that the e-Shram portal has registered over 31.67 crore unorganised workers, describing it as a one-stop platform for social security access. The announcement came under the hashtag #12YearsOfGaribKalyan, marking over a decade of the ruling party's welfare outreach agenda.

Context

In his post, Mandaviya stated: 'With over 31.67 crore unorganised workers registered, the e-Shram portal is serving as a one-stop platform to ensure access to social security schemes.' The figure underscores the scale of India's informal workforce and the government's push to map it digitally. The minister framed the milestone as part of 'empowering Bharat's workforce.'

The e-Shram portal was launched in August 2021 by the Ministry of Labour and Employment to create a centralised national database of unorganised workers — a category that includes construction labourers, domestic workers, street vendors, migrant workers and gig workers. Prior to its launch, no single national registry of this workforce existed.

Policy Backdrop

The portal's creation was enabled in part by the Code on Social Security, 2020, which for the first time extended formal social security provisions to gig and unorganised sector workers. The code consolidated multiple earlier labour laws and created a legislative basis for welfare portability across state boundaries.

The e-Shram initiative sits within the broader Digital India framework, which aims to improve last-mile delivery of government schemes through technology. Post-pandemic, the government accelerated efforts to map migrant and informal workers after the COVID-19 crisis exposed gaps in welfare delivery to this segment. The portal links registered workers to schemes including insurance cover and, potentially, other central welfare programmes.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries are India's vast unorganised workforce — estimated to constitute over 90 per cent of the country's total employed population. Registration on e-Shram enables workers to access scheme benefits, including accidental insurance under Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, and positions them for integration with programmes such as Ayushman Bharat and PM Jan Dhan Yojana.

Labour welfare advocates and state-level welfare boards have long sought a unified database to reduce duplication and exclusion errors in benefit delivery. The 31.67 crore registration figure, if sustained, represents a significant administrative achievement in a sector historically resistant to formalisation. Gig workers — employed through app-based platforms — are among the newer categories the portal is designed to cover.

What's Next

The Ministry of Labour and Employment is expected to focus on deeper integration of e-Shram data with existing central schemes to enable seamless, portable benefit delivery regardless of a worker's state of residence. Analysts tracking labour policy will watch for budgetary allocations and legislative updates that could expand the scope of portability.

The #12YearsOfGaribKalyan framing signals that the government intends to use such milestones as part of a broader political communication effort on welfare delivery ahead of future electoral cycles. Further announcements from the Ministry of Labour and Employment on scheme convergence are likely as the registration base continues to grow.